Girls Soccer Season Begins

The girls soccer team’s season has started, and the Panthers are off to a good start to the year. They are currently 3-1 with wins over Racine Horlick, West Allis Central, and Shorewood. Their only loss was to Catholic Memorial in the season opener.

The Panthers are currently third in the Woodland Conference, trailing New Berlin Eisenhower and New Berlin West. All three teams have a conference record of 2-0, but due to more goals scored and less allowed, New Berlin West and Eisenhower are placed ahead of the Panthers.

Senior and one of the team captains Taylore DeLong thinks the team has room for improvement, but also has some good strengths.

“One thing that I feel we can improve on is using the entirety of the field,” DeLong said. “Having the opportunity to switch sides more often will allow us to have more success. I think that we are good at being able to find people who are open across the field, it allows us to move forward and get behind the defense which gives us more opportunities to score.”

In the some of the Panthers games so far, their offense has been the key to victory. They scored 10 goals against West Allis Central and 3 goals against Shorewood. Both games resulted in wins. However, their defense has also been impressive so far. Ever since allowing seven goals to Catholic Memorial in their season opener, they have only allowed one goal since.

Freshman Sabrina Benali thinks their good offense is triggered from being aggressive.

“Our main strength is that we push the ball towards the goal and try to take as many shots as possible,” Benali said. “One weakness we have is not spreading the field and making too many passes to the middle.”

The Panthers defense has been rock solid in recent games for a reason. Head Coach George Knezic thinks the girls have done a very good job getting 50/50 balls. Knezic is also impressed with the goalkeeping from junior Nina Delgadillo.

“Players are not afraid to challenge 50/50 balls which is important,” Knezic said. “Our junior goalkeeper Nina Delgadillo is very good which also keeps us in games, especially in the Woodland Conference.”

The Panthers are without a doubt a very young team with a few freshmen on the varsity squad. Despite playing at a faster pace than previous years, freshman Madeline Filetti likes the challenge of playing with older players.

“It’s difficult compared to the past teams I’ve played on,” Filetti said. “The level of competition is different and more challenging, but it’s a good challenge.”

The Panthers are off to a good start to their young season despite the horrible spring weather playing a role in games and practices. But due to their good play to start the season, the bad weather doesn’t seem to be bothering them that much because they are still battling the cold and winning games with solid offense and defense.